Joy To Our Little Corner Of The World
by moonmama
Summary: Lorelai and Luke's first Christmas together. Now complete!
1. Default Chapter

A/N: OK, I know it's weird to be writing a Christmas story in July, but this sort of picks up where _Things Left Unsaid_ leaves off, which ended during the month of November. No need to read _Things Left Unsaid_ (though I'd love it if you would); all you need to know is that Lorelai and Luke are together and have been for about a three weeks now. The 6 months prior to them getting together, Lorelai spent dating Christopher. In the end Christopher screwed up royally, Luke saved the day, and everyone was there to witness it, so Richard and Emily are OK with Lorelai and Luke being together and Christopher being out of the picture. Rory has a boyfriend James. Dean is getting divorced. (Though I'm not even sure if Rory will appear in this, let alone Dean.) Richard and Emily are back together.  
  
_Things Left Unsaid_ had a rather complex storyline involving all the characters, and was rated PG only because of the use of the word "bitch" in chapter 1. This will be something different entirely: a simple storyline involving only a few characters, and it will definitely be a higher rating than PG.

* * *

"Explain to me again why killing a tree is a festive thing to do?" demanded Luke as he and Lorelai were driving in Lorelai's Jeep.  
  
"Oh, be quiet you big Grinch," said Lorelai. "Didn't you have Christmas trees when you were a kid? Every kid loves Christmas."  
  
"First of all, I'm not a kid. Second, not every kid loves Christmas."  
  
"Santa, presents, Rudolph, candy..." prompted Lorelai.  
  
"Crowds, gluttony, crazy relatives, cavities..." replied Luke.  
  
"Wanna guess what I got you?" asked Lorelai, playfully.  
  
"You don't have to get me anything," said Luke.  
  
"Sorry, too late."  
  
"Aww, geez, now I have to think of something for you," he complained.  
  
"Please don't," said Lorelai. "I've seen your gift-giving abilities before. No cat potholders for me, mister."  
  
"Well then just tell me what you want."  
  
"That's no fun!" exclaimed Lorelai. "You're supposed to spend tons of money on something I would never buy for myself, and will probably hate when I open it but I'll act all happy with it, use it once, and then take it back and exchange it for what I really wanted."  
  
"You're not supposed to take things back if they're used. And I thought you said you didn't want anything," said Luke.  
  
"I lied," said Lorelai.  
  
"OK, how about this. You tell Rory what you want and I'll talk to her, and then we'll all act like I surprised you with a gift of exactly what you wanted," suggested Luke.  
  
"You've got yourself a deal," said Lorelai as she pulled the car up to the house and turned it off. She leaned over to kiss him, an activity which they proceeded to spend several minutes engaging in. Only when the wintry winds started to penetrate the car did they come up for air.  
  
"We better get the tree inside," said Lorelai. They both got out of the car and Luke began untying the tree from the roof, while Lorelai went in the house and began digging out the decorations from storage. As she was dragging the box into the living room, she heard a thud and a cry of pain from outside. She went running out the door, to find Luke sprawled out on the front stairs, face down, with the tree lying on the ground at the bottom.  
  
"Shit! Shit!" exclaimed Luke as he clutched his right knee in pain. "Goddamn tree, I swear it jumped up and tripped me on purpose."  
  
"Are you OK?" asked Lorelai, sitting him up and examining his knee.  
  
"Banged my head on the railing too," indicated Luke. "First I tripped on the tree, then I went flying and my other foot tripped on the step."  
  
"I think they were in cahoots," said Lorelai.  
  
"It looks smug. Just lying there on the ground, mocking me."  
  
"Oh my God, you're right," said Lorelai, looking at the tree. "The tree is actually _laughing_ at you. I bet it follows you home and hides under the stairs to the diner so it can trip up all your best customers."  
  
Luke rolled his eyes as Lorelai helped him limp into the house and sat him down in one of the kitchen chairs while she went to get bandages.  
  
"How the hell did you do this last year?" Luke called to her.  
  
"What?" asked Lorelai, coming back into the kitchen with the first aid supplies.  
  
"The tree and all. How did you get it cut down and in the house last year when I wasn't here to do it for you?"  
  
"Oh, Rory and I did it," replied Lorelai nonchalantly.  
  
"What? Why the hell am I doing this for you when you're perfectly capable of doing it yourself?"  
  
"It's the Rule," replied Lorelai, in a tone that indicated that it should be as obvious as the blood currently running down his leg.  
  
"What rule?" asked Luke.  
  
"You know. The Rule," Lorelai repeated.  
  
"No, I don't know. What rule?" Luke asked again, getting more aggravated by the second.  
  
"The Boyfriend Rule," said Lorelai. When Luke continued to look confused, she continued. "It states that no heavy lifting or other such manual labor shall be performed by the female if the male is present to do it instead." Lorelai started to lift the leg of Luke's jeans in an effort to examine his knee.  
  
"I wouldn't have been present to do it if you hadn't tricked me into it by telling me we were going for a nature walk," Luke groused.  
  
"Ah, you should have been clued in right there," said Lorelai, still tugging at his pant leg.  
  
"Anyway, I'm not your boyfriend."  
  
"What?" asked Lorelai, looking concerned.  
  
"I'm over 40. I'm too old to be a 'boyfriend.'"  
  
Lorelai's face relaxed. "This is not working," she said, indicating the pants. "These are gonna have to come off."  
  
Luke gave her a look.  
  
"Hey, it's not my fault you insist on wearing tight jeans all the time," objected Lorelai. "But let's look on the bright side. I finally get to sneak a peek at your legs." Luke rolled his eyes and stood up, balancing against the table and his one good leg, in order to remove his jeans to reveal his boxers and his beaten and bloody knee underneath.  
  
Lorelai began cleaning his wound as Luke winced in pain. "So why do you hate Christmas so much?" asked Lorelai.  
  
"I don't hate Christmas," said Luke.  
  
"Oh I'm sorry, I guess I got so distracted by your bitching and moaning about the tree I must have missed Festive Luke singing carols and saying 'God bless us, every one.'"  
  
"It's just a huge hassle, buying presents, spending time with crazy family, the crowds, and Taylor is already on my case to decorate the diner..." objected Luke.  
  
"'Already?' Luke there's only 3 weeks until Christmas. Most stores have had their decorations up for a month already. And you said 'not every kid loves Christmas.' I have a feeling there's more to this," prompted Lorelai. "Something happen when you were a kid?"  
  
Luke sighed and paused for a moment. "My father," he finally said.  
  
"Your father happened?"  
  
"Well, after my mom died, my dad was...well I guess he was a little overwhelmed," began Luke.  
  
"Understandably. I'm sure he never expected to be a single dad," said Lorelai.  
  
"So on our first Christmas without her, he took me aside, told me there was no Santa Claus, and that he needed my help to wrap all the presents," Luke finally revealed.  
  
"Oh Luke," Lorelai said softly as she finished bandaging his knee and moved up to the gash on his forehead. "What a lousy thing to do to a kid. How old were you?"  
  
"Nine," Luke replied. "It wasn't his fault. He didn't know where else to turn. From that point on I was the official Christmas gift-wrapper."  
  
Lorelai finished cleaning his forehead and applied a bandage to the gash. As she finished, she tenderly kissed the area. Luke reached up for her, placed his hands on either side of her face and pulled her down into a kiss. Lorelai leaned over, came around to face him, careful to avoid his injured knee, and returned the kiss, her hands running through his hair.  
  
Luke deepened the kiss, playing games with her, tongue-to-tongue. Then he broke away and started exploring his way down her neck with his tongue and lips while Lorelai leaned her head back, continuing to finger through his hair.  
  
"Shouldn't we get the tree...?" Lorelai interjected, but Luke took hold of her by the waist and pulled her down as he continued exploring her neck and face with his lips. Lorelai straddled him, sitting on his lap face-to-face. Her breath quickened as she felt his hands exploring her back, at first over her shirt, then he slipped them underneath and ran them up her spine, and then around front to gently caress the outer edges of her breasts.  
  
Lorelai moaned as Luke began undoing her bra and exploring her breasts. She lifted his face up to kiss him, and saw his arousal through the loose fabric of his boxers. She began running her tongue along his lower lip as she caressed his face with her hands.  
  
"Oh God, Lorelai," Luke sighed as she began unbuttoning his shirt slowly, kissing his chest ever lower as she undid each button. She gently slid backwards off his lap as she went lower, in order to reach his stomach area with her lips. When she reached the bottom, she sat back up on his lap and ran her fingers through his chest hair as she kissed and gently bit his shoulders.  
  
"Wow," she whispered to him into his ear as he continued fondling her breasts. "Luke, are we—"She stopped speaking as Luke's right hand made its way to her face. She reached out with her tongue and met his index finger, which she began swirling her tongue around, and then sucking on, causing Luke to let out a low moan.  
  
"Lorelai," Luke sighed softly into her ear, breathless.  
  
Lorelai came up for air. "Luke," she said, softly kissing his cheeks and neck.  
  
"Do you want – I mean we haven't yet – "Luke stammered.  
  
Lorelai gazed deeply into his eyes. "Are you ready? Do you think we're – "  
  
"I'm ready," he stated definitively.  
  
"I'm ready," she countered. "But this chair has got to go. Come on." Lorelai slid off his lap and helped him up as Luke leaned on her for support and limped along, favoring his good knee. They slowly made their way into the living room.  
  
"Luke," Lorelai protested as his weight began to be too much for her. Luke took another hop on his good leg and tripped on the rug, causing him to fall crashing down to the floor, pulling Lorelai down on top of him.  
  
"Are you OK?" she asked, giggling.  
  
Luke gasped for a moment. "I think I just totaled my other knee," he said, wincing. He rubbed it and the pain gradually passed. Finally he started to laugh. "I think you're doing this on purpose."  
  
"Oh, _that's_ what you think I'm into?" Lorelai said playfully as she straddled him on the floor. Luke reached up and pulled her down into a deep, slow, passionate kiss as he explored her mouth with his tongue. His hands wandered back under her shirt and he began lifting it up. They broke the kiss in order to lift her shirt up over her head, and Lorelai also slipped her bra off. She pressed herself down on top of Luke, both of them savoring the sensation of skin against skin.  
  
"Oh, God, please," Lorelai moaned as Luke ground himself up into her. Luke pushed her up into a straddle position in order to access her pants. He began unbuckling her belt, unbuttoning her jeans, and he was just unzipping them as the phone rang.  
  
"Let it ring," he told her, but just then there was also a knock at the door.  
  
"I'll get the door, you get the phone," she instructed him, jumping up and quickly pulling her shirt over her head.  
  
"Geez Lorelai, I can barely walk," he reminded her. She grabbed the cordless and tossed it at him as she zipped up her pants and ran to the door. She could see from inside the door that it was Babette, so she opened the door and quickly slipped out onto the porch so that Babette would not see Luke who was still partially undressed, sitting on her living room floor.  
  
"Hey, sugar, I just noticed your tree lying here and I thought you might need some help," Babette told Lorelai, indicating the Christmas tree that was still lying on the ground at the bottom of the stairs.  
  
"Oh, thanks Babette, but I've got it covered," Lorelai informed her.  
  
"It's no problem, honey, I'll just grab this end..." Babette said as she picked up the trunk of the tree.  
  
"Actually I was going to leave it there," Lorelai said, flustered. "Don't you think it looks good there? I thought I'd share it with the neighborhood, you know, spread the spirit of Christmas, joy to the world, or joy to Stars Hollow anyway..."  
  
"Now sugar if you can just grab the top..." Babette said, ignoring Lorelai's speech.  
  
"Actually Babette, I don't have the tree stand ready yet, so let's just leave it on the porch for now," said Lorelai. The two of them carried the tree up to the porch and leaned it against the front of the house. "Thanks," Lorelai said.  
  
"No problem, sugar," said Babette. "Hey, Morey and I are having a little get-together next weekend. Nothing fancy, just some cookies, we'll sing some carols, make some mulled wine, but we'd love it if you could come."  
  
"Oh, that sounds great, Babette," Lorelai replied.  
  
"And make sure you bring Luke along too," Babette added, winking at her as she went back into her house.  
  
Lorelai went back into the house and found Luke on his feet, slowly limping towards the couch. "Who was on the phone?" she asked him.  
  
"Your mother," he replied.  
  
"And what did the Ruler of All Things Judgmental have to say when she heard you answer the phone?"  
  
"Actually it was me she wanted to talk to," Luke informed her.  
  
"Luke, are you having a secret affair with my mother?"  
  
"Oh yeah," he replied. "We've been having quickies in the back of my truck."  
  
"OK, there's a visual I really did _not_ need. The mood has officially been killed," said Lorelai. "Actually it was dead the moment you mentioned my mother."  
  
"I'm invited for Friday night dinner next week," he informed her.  
  
Lorelai gasped. "Today, my friend, you become a man," she said as she grabbed a magazine, rolled it up and touched his shoulders with it as if she were knighting him. "I dub thee Sir Luke the Ornery, Bearer of Coffee and Ruler of All Things Flannel."  
  
tbc


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Darn text formatting, my parentheses won't show up. The title of this is SUPPOSED to be:

Joy To (Our Little Corner Of) The World

Sorry this chapter is so short – originally I was going to have this part and the dinner together in one chapter but the dinner is getting rather lengthy so I thought I should separate them out and this was the only logical place to stop.

Please R&R!

* * *

Lorelai was in the process of putting on pantyhose as the doorbell rang.

"It's open!" she yelled from the top of the stairs.

Luke opened the door and walked in, still limping slightly. He was dressed in a dark blue button-down shirt and black pants. "Hey," he called up to her. "You're not ready yet? I thought I was running late."  
  
Lorelai came running down the stairs, all the while putting her pumps on her feet. "I've learned that I can arrive up to 10 minutes late with no consequences. 15 minutes gets me a snide comment or two, and 20 minutes or more gets ugly. I'm thinking tonight is one of those times when the snide comments might be preferable over 5 minutes of the cross-examination that we'll be enduring so I'm shooting for a 7:15 arrival." She paused to acknowledge Luke and give him a quick kiss. "And now you're probably going to break up with me once you've seen how completely insane my parents make me."

"Nothing I haven't already seen," replied Luke, "though a little Prozac might be a good thing right about now."

"Let's go," said Lorelai as she put her coat on and grabbed her purse. They both headed out the door and got into Lorelai's Jeep.

Lorelai rummaged through her purse and pulled out some index cards. "Here," she said. "I've made some lists of topics for conversation, to deflect the heat away from you and me," she said as she started the car.  
  
"I'm not going to read this," said Luke indignantly.

"Trust me, you'll be thanking me later," said Lorelai. "When my father starts asking you about your annual net income from the diner, and getting on your case for not going to business school you'll realize that you'd much rather be talking about the political situation in Haiti."

"Prozac is sounding better and better," Luke commented.

"Oh and if they invite us over for dinner on Christmas Eve, tell them you already have plans."  
  
"Oh, hey, that reminds me, Liz called today. She invited me down to New York for Christmas Eve," Luke informed her. "I guess Jess is coming too. So it's actually true that I have plans"

"Christmas Eve?"

"Yeah. Just for the evening."

"And Jess is coming?" Lorelai asked.

"Is there an echo in here?"  
  
"No," Lorelai replied coldly.

"Is this a problem?" Luke asked.

"No, not at all," Lorelai replied, angry. "It's just our first Christmas together, and now we won't be together."

"Come with me," suggested Luke. "I'm sure Liz would love to see you."

"Um, hello? Remember my daughter?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"Rory? Jess will be there, she can't come, and I'm not about to leave her alone on Christmas Eve."

"Ah, shit," said Luke. "Well we'll have Christmas Day anyway."

"Only a short time in the morning because my parents expect us over there by 11:00 for brunch," said Lorelai.

"So tell them you can't come," suggested Luke.

"Ha! _You_ try telling that to my mother. Deaf ears, I'm telling you. It's _Miracle Worker_ all over again," said Lorelai. "Why don't you tell Liz you can't make it?"

"Lorelai, I already told her I'd be there. She's cooking up a huge feast, she said something about 20 different kinds of cookies, I think she's already started cooking for it and it's still two weeks away."

"So you're making me choose between you and Rory on Christmas Eve?"

"I'm not making you choose anything," said Luke, getting annoyed. "I was just telling you that Liz invited me down."

"And you accepted."  
  
"Yes, I accepted."

"Which brings us back to the choice," said Lorelai, throwing up her hands. "I should change my name to Sophie."

"Look, you never told me you were planning something, what the hell was I supposed to do? Not make any plans at all in the hopes that you'd want to spend some time with me? Liz is my _sister _for Gods sake."

"You didn't even ask me. You could have at least checked with me before agreeing to it," said Lorelai as she pulled the car up to her parents' house.

"This is exactly why I hate Christmas," Luke said. "Goddamn family obligations, social obligations, everybody getting pissed off at everybody else. Fine. You don't want to have to make a choice? You're not invited. Spend it with Rory. Problem solved," Luke said as he angrily got out of the car. He walked over to the door and rang the bell before Lorelai had a chance to say anything else.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Thanks for the reviews so far! This chapter isn't as funny as I'd like it to be, but it's hard to have Luke & Lorelai wisecracking when they're mad at each other. I also spent quite some time wracking my brains to think of what on earth Luke and Richard would have to say to each other...until it dawned on me: nothing! They would have nothing to say to each other, and that's OK (from a literary perspective) so I decided to just play up that angle.

I had another idea for a fic last night, so I'm in a hurry to wrap this one up. I expect 1 or 2 more chapters after this one. Hope you enjoy!

* * *

Emily came to answer the door. "Hello Luke, it's nice to see you again, thank you for coming." She nodded towards Lorelai. "Hello, Lorelai."

"Hi Mom," she said as they entered and removed their coats. They proceeded on into the sitting room where Richard was sitting reading a newspaper.

"Rory called and said she's running a little late," Emily informed them.

"Damn, I should have thought of that!" Lorelai murmured to herself.

"I'm going to check on dinner," said Emily as she went into the kitchen.

Richard stood up and shook hands with Luke. "Good to see you, Luke," said Richard.

"Thanks for having me, Mr. Gilmore," said Luke as he sat down on the couch. Lorelai sat down next to him and tried to take his hand in hers, but Luke moved away.

"Call me Richard, please," said Richard. "Can I get you something to drink? Emily and I are doing Gin and Tonics this evening."  
  
"That sounds fine," said Luke.

"Lorelai?"

"Good for me too, Dad."

As Richard got up to get the drinks, Lorelai poked Luke in the side and whispered to him, "Can you please at least try to act civil? These are my _parents_."

"I am acting civil," growled Luke, avoiding her gaze.

"Oh yeah, you're a regular Kofi Annan," whispered Lorelai as Richard came back with the drinks.

"So Luke, how's the diner business treating you?" asked Richard.

"Just fine," Luke replied.

Just then Emily returned. "Dinner should be ready shortly," she announced. "Luke, I hope you like Cornish hens."

"Never had one, actually," Luke admitted.

"Tastes like chicken," Lorelai interjected.

Emily brushed her aside. "You're in for a treat," said Emily. "Our cook makes a wonderful oyster dressing." Just then the doorbell rang. "That must be Rory," said Emily, heading to the door to greet her.

"So Lorelai, how's business at the Inn?" Richard asked.

"Well considering that we hosted a convention of animal-rights activists last week and Michel only annoyed two of them, and Sookie managed to come up with a vegetarian menu to feed them with a minimum of complaining, I'd say things are going well," Lorelai said nervously. "Though I still suspect that she slipped chicken broth into the pasta sauce."

Emly and Rory entered the room. "Hey, Luke," said Rory upon seeing him. "Welcome to Friday night dinners."

"Hey Rory," he replied. "How's things at Yale?"

"Insane," replied Rory, leaning in to hug Lorelai.

"Hey babe," said Lorelai, giving Rory a quick kiss hello.

Just then the maid entered the room. "Dinner is served," she announced. They all made their way into the dining room and sat down at the table as the maid brought the food out. Emily and Richard were seated at the ends as usual, Rory on one side, Luke and Lorelai next to each other on the other side.

"So Grandma, how are the Christmas preparations coming along?" Rory asked.

"Everything seems to be on schedule for the party next week. Oh Richard, that reminds me, the Corrigans' party is tomorrow evening."

Richard sighed. "Oh, not the Corrigans."  
  
"What's wrong with the Corrigans?" Emily asked.

"David Corrigan is an insufferable bore; I mean, how can one person talk so much about shoes?" Richard said.

"He built a multi-million dollar business making those shoes," Emily objected.

"That doesn't mean everyone who comes to their house wants to learn every detail about platform soles. I work in insurance but I don't tell everyone how a deductible is calculated."  
  
"The Corrigans? Any relation to Alicia Corrigan who I went to school with?" Lorelai asked.

"Yes, David and Tina are her parents," Emily replied.

Lorelai giggled. "Alicia used to play in the chess club, and she'd spend our entire English class re-enacting the previous day's game to me. Why do you think I got straight A's in English, Mom? Between chess reenactments and _Beowulf_, I'll take _Beowulf_ any day."

"Well the apple doesn't fall far from the tree," Richard said.

"Fine, we'll make a polite appearance and leave early," Emily conceded. Richard nodded his approval.

"Hey Rory," Lorelai said, "when are we doing our annual Christmas shopping spree?"

"Ugh, I'm totally buried with finals right now," Rory replied. "Besides, I thought you told me you're already done with your shopping."

"That is so not the point of the shopping spree," Lorelai replied. "I'd think you'd know this by now. The shopping spree is to buy all the things for ourselves that we know nobody else is going to buy us, and once we've spent all our remaining money, we collapse in the food court and heckle all the last-minute shoppers who are so easily identified because they look scared and they never know their way around the mall."

"Or maybe they just hate the mall," Luke interjected coldly.

"Well I've got a calc final on Tuesday but maybe I could swing a few hours in the evening," Rory said. "But I'll have to do some actual Christmas shopping."  
  
Lorelai gasped playfully. "I'm sorry, hon, that's strictly against the rules."

"So Luke," Emily interjected, "Are you doing anything special for the holidays?"

"Yes, Luke, do tell," said Lorelai sarcastically. "Not like I'll find out any other way."

Luke glared at her for a moment before answering. "Oh, yeah, I'll be seeing my sister, that's about it right now."

"You just have one sister?" Emily inquired.

"Yeah, it's just Liz and me."  
  
"Your parents?"  
  
"My mom died when I was a kid. My dad died about 15 years ago," Luke replied.

"That must have been hard," said Emily. "Family is so important, especially around Christmas."

"Yes it is," Luke said, shooting another angry glance Lorelai's way.

"So have you always lived in Stars Hollow?" asked Emily politely, trying to get to know him.

"Yeah, born and bred," Luke replied. "I guess I never had much desire to go anywhere else."  
  
"Except New York for Christmas," interjected Lorelai sarcastically.

"Is there a problem, Lorelai?" asked Emily.

"Not at all," she replied. "No problems here. I am totally problem-free. No worries."

"And Luke, you've never been married, is that correct?"

Luke shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "Well actually I was married once, briefly."

"Briefly?" Emily inquired.

"It didn't even last a year," Luke confessed.

At this, Richard took notice. "How can a marriage fall apart in less than a year?"  
  
"Britney Spears was—"Rory interjected but Richard cut her off.

"How can you make a lifetime commitment to someone and then not be able to put up with them for even a year?" Richard challenged Luke.

"Well it was kind of a spur of the moment thing, we never should have done it in the first place," said Luke hesitantly.

"You made such a monumental decision on the spur of the moment?" demanded Richard.

"It was a mistake. I know better now," Luke said definitively, an annoyed tone creeping up in his voice.

"So Luke, how's Taylor doing with the town Christmas decorations?" asked Rory, trying to change the subject. She shot a quizzical look at Lorelai, who was watching the exchange with a small smile on her face. Rory kicked her under the table.

Luke shot an appreciative glance Rory's way. "Ridiculous lights in the square. It's like daytime when they're all turned on, and we'll all be seeing the electric bill in our taxes this year," Luke groused.

"Where on earth are those salads?" Emily said suddenly. "Excuse me, I'm going to see what could possibly be taking that girl so long," she said as she excused herself from the table and went into the kitchen.

Lorelai also got up from the table. "I need to go powder my...well you know," she said as she left the room, leaving Rory, Richard and Luke alone at the table.

"So Rory, how are those finals coming along?" asked Richard.

"Calculus is killing me. Other than that, I think I've got them aced," she replied, furtively looking out into the hallway. "Uh, could you excuse me for a second?" she said as she got up from the table and went the direction Lorelai had gone.

Now only Richard and Luke remained at the table.

"Was it something I said?" Luke said lightly as he shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

Richard glanced around, looking for Emily. "I don't know what could be taking so long with those salads."

Luke looked at Richard and then down at his plate as they sat in silence, unable to make conversation.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Rory almost bumped into Lorelai as she was exiting the bathroom. "Geez, gotta put a bell on you, babe," said Lorelai.

"What the hell is going on?" demanded Rory.

"Uh, I need some frame of reference here, hon. Phish are breaking up, they've cloned a cat, and the Democrats are trying to defeat Bush – again, I might add."

"You know what I'm talking about. _Luke_. What the hell is going on between you guys? You've been snipping at each other since I got here."

"We have not been snipping. I've been doing all the snipping. He's been glaring, I've been snipping."

"Grandma and Grandpa were totally grilling him and you just sat there. You actually looked like you were enjoying it," challenged Rory.

"Just thought it was time for someone else to take a turn for once," Lorelai defended herself.

"Mom, this is _Luke_. What's going on?"

"He's being a thoughtless, insensitive jackass, that's what's going on," Lorelai finally vented.

"I'm talking about Luke, Mom."  
  
"So am I," replied Lorelai.

"Wow, I never thought I'd hear the words 'thoughtless' and 'Luke' in the same sentence," said Rory. "What happened?"

"He went and made plans for Christmas Eve without even asking me if I had anything planned and now we're not even going to be able to see each other."

Rory frowned. "That doesn't sound like Luke. He didn't even invite you?"

"Well he did, but I'm not going to leave you alone on Christmas Eve," Lorelai admitted.  
  
"Forget about me. You're mad at him because he invited you to spend Christmas Eve with him?"

"No," said Lorelai defensively. "I'm mad because he should have asked me if I had anything planned first."

"Mom, he _invited_ you to spend Christmas Eve with his _family_."  
  
"Yeah, his family," repeated Lorelai haughtily. "Not exactly the Von Trapps, are they?"

"Oh and we are? You never mentioned you had any problems with Liz."

"I don't," replied Lorelai, giving Rory a knowing look. "Not with Liz."

"Oh," said Rory, finally understanding.

"Oh," echoed Lorelai.

"Mom, things are over with Jess. It's OK. I'm fine, I'm over it. Please don't let this come between you and Luke."

"But it's Christmas Eve. I'm not about to make you an orphan on Christmas Eve. It just seems so wrong, the idea of spending Christmas Eve with the guy who broke your heart."

Rory rolled her eyes. "I'm fine, and you know, you're not the only person I know in the world. I could come spend the night here with Grandma and Grandpa."

"Definitely not going now," said Lorelai.

"Or with Lane or maybe I could have James over." Rory offered.

"Thanks hon. I'll work something out with Luke," Lorelai said as she hugged Rory.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Lorelai and Rory returned to the table to find the salads set at each place and Richard, Emily and Luke waiting for them.

As Lorelai slid into her seat, she leaned over and whispered a "sorry" into Luke's ear. Luke looked at her, his face expressionless, and did not respond.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Rory, Lorelai and Luke exited the house and headed to their cars.

"See you Tuesday," Lorelai said as she hugged Rory goodbye. Rory drove off in her car as Lorelai and Luke walked over to the Jeep and got in.

"So how long are you going to pull the Marcel Marceau routine on me?" asked Lorelai as she started the car and drove off.

"I am not pulling any routine," replied Luke.

"I said I was sorry."

"OK," said Luke coldly.

"God you are impossible to apologize to! I was wrong, OK? You invited me to spend time with your family and I jumped all over you. Though I still wish you had checked with me first."

"Gee, who could resist an apology like that?" said Luke sarcastically.

"You meant well, OK? I understand that. I was just...freaked out, I guess. I hadn't really thought about Christmas with you, I guess I was kind of expecting you to come over, and then you totally threw a monkey wrench into it all, and then you mentioned Jess, and seeing Jess on Christmas Eve was just too freaky to contemplate. I felt like I was betraying Rory." Lorelai trailed off.

Luke did not reply.

"I'm sorry," Lorelai said again, quietly.

"OK," he said in a distant voice.

They drove the rest of the way back in silence.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Most of the rest of this story will be warm, fuzzy Christmas fluff, with a bit of heavy breathing mixed in.

I know the Dean scene in this chapter is a bit out of place, it's there in case I ever want to do yet another sequel to this. Basically I think Dean needs to get a life so that he won't be just The Guy Who Wants Rory, so that's where I'm going with him here.

Disclaimer: If I owned them I certainly wouldn't be working at this stupid job.

* * *

Shutting up now. On to the story, let's see, where were we? Oh yeah, Lorelai and Luke were driving home in silence...

Lorelai pulled the Jeep up outside the diner and turned to look at Luke. "You still coming to Babette's tomorrow?"  
  
"Yeah, sure," Luke replied.

"Are we OK?"

"Mm-hm," Luke said. He leaned over and gave her a quick peck on the lips, then got out of the car and went into the diner.

Lorelai stared quizzically after him. She sighed, started the car and drove home.

SATURDAY, 8PM

Lorelai walked up the path to Babette's house, which was all decked out in Christmas lights, made even more lovely by the snow that had fallen earlier that day. She rang the bell and was greeted by Miss Patty, who opened the door eagerly.

"Merry Christmas! Come in!" she said jovially. Her face fell when she saw Lorelai. "Oh sweetie, how nice to see you," she said cordially.  
  
"Well I know I'm not George Bailey but at least I brought wine," Lorelai said.

"Yes dear, but you're no fun under the mistletoe," Patty said, indicating the sprig of mistletoe hanging over the door. "When is that tasty man of yours showing up?"

"He should be here any minute," Lorelai said, looking around. "Where's Babette?"

"I think she's in the kitchen," Patty replied as Sookie and Jackson walked in the door. "Jackson!" she called, rushing over to him with her arms outstretched.

Lorelai made her way through the living room, which was jam-packed full of people. Maury sat at the piano playing Christmas carols while several guests sang along. Lorelai went into the kitchen where Babette was preparing a tray of food.

"Hey Babette," she said.

"Lorelai, honey, so good to see you," Babette said as she kissed Lorelai hello. "Where's your other half?"

"Here, I brought you guys some wine," Lorelai said as she handed it over. "I think Luke should be here soon. But I really haven't talked to him today."  
  
"Everything OK with you lovebirds? How was the big Friday night dinner?"  
  
"Very _Silence of the Lambs,_" Lorelai replied.

"Oh honey, I'm sorry," Babette said. "But Luke's a tough nut to crack. An acquired taste, you know? Give it some time, your parents will learn to love him."

"Oh that wasn't even the problem. We had this awful fight on the way there and I still have no idea if we're done with it."

"Oh sugar, that man adores you, there's no way he can stay mad at you for long," Babette said as she picked up the tray and headed into the living room.

Lorelai followed her in, just as the doorbell rang. Patty swung the door open, her arms outstretched wide, as Luke walked in. "Luke! Come here, dear, you're under the mistletoe!"

Luke skillfully ducked from Patty's embrace and made his way over to Lorelai, where he leaned over to kiss her hello. "Hey," he said.

"Nice maneuver," said Lorelai, indicating his near-miss under the mistletoe with Patty.

"Purely self defense," he said, kissing her again. "I didn't see you at the diner today."  
  
"Yeah, I wasn't sure if you wanted to see me after last night."

"I told you we were OK. You missed seeing me tell Taylor that I'm raising his rent."

"Ah, had a good day, then?"

"Been looking forward to it all week," Luke replied.

Just then Kirk strode into the room, fully decked out in an elf costume, shouting in an angry voice, "You are so wrong, you can't even begin to comprehend how wrong you are!"

A boy of about 9 years followed after him, arguing with him, "Spiderman could whip Batman's ass any day!"

"Spiderman, ha! Batman is a _real_ hero, he's a regular guy who chose to stick his neck out for the little people, not some schmo who accidentally got bit by a mutant spider."

"Spiderman rules!" retorted the boy.

"Does not!"

"Does too!"

"Does not, and I'm gonna tell Santa, and make sure he knows that Spiderman is a TOTAL LOSER!"

The boy looked stricken and ran off.

"Tormenting children again, Kirk?" Luke asked.

"He was asking for it," replied Kirk.

"Love the outfit, Kirk," Lorelai told him. "But don't you have to get back to the workshop? I've heard those elves can get pretty mean."

"Oh, Lulu wanted to see me in my outfit," Kirk explained. "I've been working at the Santa booth in the town square."  
  
"Clearly the children are enthralled by your portrayal of Santa's helper," Luke said sarcastically.

"Hey, the kid was asking for it. You should've seen the list of stuff he was demanding. This younger generation has no understanding of the spirit of giving."

"So naturally you felt the need to denigrate his choice of hero?" Lorelai asked. Just then her pager went off. She opened it and read the message. "Shoot, that's Michel at the Inn, I need to find a phone." She went into the kitchen, picked up the phone and dialed a number.

"Michel, what's up? No, relax, we'll have enough, the linen delivery is coming Wednesday instead of Thursday. Holiday schedule" Luke entered the kitchen and Lorelai motioned to him to wait a moment. He strode over to her. "Wait, hang on, no, tell the Andrews' that the tree trimming will be on Friday." Lorelai was leaning her shoulder against the wall as she spoke on the phone. Luke reached around her and placed his hands on either side of her against the wall, effectively pinning her in. Lorelai squirmed as she spoke on the phone.

"You're out of ice? How could you run out of ice? I swear Sookie keeps enough ice in that freezer to form her own glacier. OK, send Amy into town to get some. Who the hell needs ice in December anyway?" Luke was nuzzling her hair, gently kissing her neck and breathing into her ear.

"No, Michel, you may not tell Mr. Ross that his wife needs a new hairdo," Lorelai said. She caught her breath as Luke ran his hand softly across her chin, down her neck and down between her breasts as he continued nuzzling her hair. "Michel, I need to go, if you have any more problems, call Sookie." Lorelai hung up the phone and turned to Luke. "You are evil. You're like the eye of Sauron," she said. He leaned in and pressed his lips against hers, just as Babette entered the kitchen. They heard her and jumped apart.

"Oh don't mind me, I just came to get some forks, I'll be out of here in a minute," said Babette.

Luke backed away from Lorelai and caught his breath. "Uh, I'm going to get a drink. You need anything?" he asked Lorelai.

"No thanks," Lorelai said as he headed out the door.

Babette poked Lorelai with her elbow. "Looks like that argument is settled after all," she said, winking at Lorelai. They walked back into the living room, where Rory had just come in.

"Hey babe," said Lorelai.

"Why is Kirk dressed like that?" Rory said, watching him. "And why is that little boy running away from him?"

"Oh, you know Kirk, spreading Christmas cheer to all the good little boys and girls. He's using the _Mommie Dearest_ guide to figuring out who's naughty and who's nice," Lorelai replied.

"I'm gonna go get some food," Rory said as she turned and headed for the table. Lorelai crossed the room to find Luke, who was sitting on the couch talking with Patty, Sookie, and Jackson. She sat down next to him, put her arm around him and began running her fingers through his hair.

Sookie was in the middle of a story. "So Davey had left his Pooh bear right there, and Jackson didn't see it, and the next thing we knew, the tree was on the floor, the tree stand totally spilled all over the place, and Jackson was lying on top of the whole mess.

Jackson held up his hand, which was bandaged. "Darn protruding branches."  
  
Lorelai pointed to the gash still on Luke's forehead. "It seems that Christmas tree-related injuries are on the rise this year."

"Next year you and Rory are on your own," Luke grumbled.

"Leaving it to the professionals, eh?" Lorelai replied. She finished caressing his head and moved down to his arm.

Babette came over carrying a tray. "Everyone, you have to taste this eggnog. It's a family recipe from Maury's mom, it's to die for," she said as she passed out the cups.

Patty took a sip. "Oh my God, this is fabulous. It reminds me of my grandmother's recipe." She sighed wistfully. "My grandmother was one of a kind. Christmas was always special to her."

"Tell us about her, Patty," Sookie said.

"Ooh! Ooh! Tell us a story!" Lorelai said excitedly.

Normally Luke would have rolled his eyes at Lorelai's overly enthusiastic display, but at this moment he had other things on his mind, namely the feel of her hand softly caressing his arm, the feel of her hair softly brushing against his shoulder, and the feel of her body sitting next to him, pressed in as close as possible.

"Well," Patty began, "My grandmother's name was Elsa. She came from a working-class family, they had a family tailoring business, and they were hired to work on the clothing for a wedding for a very rich and powerful family. It was a _very_ exclusive affair. Anyway it seems that one of the tuxedoes that Elsa was working on was for a particular usher named Robert. Robert was immediately taken with Elsa and he asked her out. The two began seeing each other regularly. However unbeknownst to Elsa, it was all under wraps in Robert's family, since she was not only poor but Catholic as well."

"This better not have a sad ending," Lorelai said.

"Well Elsa showed up for the wedding and let the cat out of the bag to Robert's family. She liked to say she did it on purpose but my aunt always said that she didn't know any better. Anyway Robert's family gave him an ultimatum: he could either break off all contact with Elsa or he'd be disinherited."

"Rich people," Jackson sneered.

"So Robert broke it off with Elsa," Patty continued. "Or so they thought. That was the week before Christmas. But that Christmas Eve, Elsa had just gone to bed when she heard a knock at her window. It was Robert. He had realized that he couldn't live without her. He'd given up his entire inheritance for her. He came to her with nothing but the clothes on his back, and a diamond ring that he'd stolen from his mother's jewelry box. He asked her to marry him right then and there, on Christmas Eve."

"Aww, I just love romantic stories. What a happy ending," Sookie sighed.

"So Robert was your grandfather?" Lorelai asked.

"Oh no, dear. They didn't get married, Elsa refused him," Patty said.

"She _refused_ him?" Jackson asked incredulously. "After he gave up his whole inheritance for her?"

"Oh yes. Turns out she was only interested in his money," Patty said as she stood up. "Excuse me, I just _have_ to try some more of that chocolate mousse."

Rory was helping herself to some food when she turned around and saw a familiar face coming towards her.

"Dean, hi," she said.

"Hey," he said. They both looked at each other uncomfortably. "I didn't know you'd be here, I thought you were at school," Dean said.  
  
"I've got a ton of work to do, but I couldn't miss Babette's party," she informed him.

"Uh, how's Yale?"

"Oh, they pump information into my head, I try to regurgitate it, pretty much the same," she replied. "Anything new with you?"

"Well I'm still living with my parents, the divorce should be final in a few weeks," he informed her.

"I'm sorry."  
  
"Oh, I'll be fine. So will Lindsey. We were too young. I guess you knew that all along." Dean shifted his weight from foot to foot. "Oh, and I decided not to go back to Connecticut State."

"Dean," Rory began.

"Before you jump on me, I've decided I'm want to study to be an electrician. I want to start my own business. Tom says he's going to help me out and once I'm certified he'll be able to send business my way," Dean informed her.

"Oh. Well – then that's great," Rory said.

"Thanks," he replied.

"Uh, I should go, I think my mom was looking for me," Rory lied. "But it's great to see you."  
  
"You too," he replied.

Lorelai walked out of the bathroom and came face-to-face with Luke in the hallway. She smiled and sauntered up to him. Luke took both of her hands in his, lifted them up, his fingers laced between hers, and pulled her towards him into a kiss.

"Hi," she whispered into his ear.

"Hi," he replied as he guided her over to the wall, leaned her against it and pressed himself up against her. Their lips met for a gentle kiss that quickly became more heated. Lorelai pulled him in closer and parted his lips with her tongue. Their breathing quickened, their tongues danced, and they were so engrossed in each other that they did not even notice the approaching footsteps in the hallway.

"Would you two just get a room?" Rory said nonchalantly as she passed them and went into the bathroom.

Luke broke the kiss and began nuzzling her hair and kissing her neck.

"Good idea," Lorelai whispered into his ear.

"What?" asked Luke.

"What Rory said," said Lorelai. "She's a smart kid."

"She's a genius," agreed Luke.

Lorelai took him by the hand and led him, practically running, back out into the living room and over to the door, where she opened the closet and began hurriedly searching for their coats. "Damn, damn, goddamn it," she murmured in frustration, having searched for a full 10 seconds.

"I'm not really that cold," Luke said softly.

Lorelai closed the closet door. "Gotta go, Babette, thanks for everything, I'll talk to you tomorrow!" she shouted as they rushed out the door, into the 20-degree cold with no coats on.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Thanks again to everyone for the reviews! This story was basically an afterthought after the last one (had so much fun writing it that I didn't want to stop), so I'm surprised and totally loving all the positive feedback I'm getting!

This chapter is pure L/L fluff. I swear I could write dialogue for these two till the cows come home, they're so much fun!

* * *

Lorelai and Luke ran through the cold Connecticut winter night, across Babette's lawn into Lorelai's lawn and up the stairs to her porch. Lorelai opened the door as they both hurried in, immediately threw their arms around each other and began to kiss feverishly. Lorelai ran her hands through Luke's hair, down his neck and down his back as Luke reciprocated, occasionally brushing his hands down the outside of her breasts which elicited a moan from her each time he did it.

Both of them were breathing heavily by now. They kicked their shoes off, never breaking the embrace.

Luke began to slip his hands under her shirt. "Mmm," Lorelai protested, pulling him towards the stairs. They made their way, Luke forwards, Lorelai backwards, to the bottom of the staircase, all the while maintaining their kiss. Luke attempted to step up onto the first stair, but they were not in sync and Lorelai tripped as she moved backwards, falling down into a half-sitting-half-lying position on the stairs, pulling him down on top of her.

Luke took advantage of the position and ground himself into her. "Oh God, oh God," Lorelai said as she pressed her lips harder against his and dug deeper with her tongue. She began to pull herself backwards and up the staircase, step by step, Luke following along with each one. When they reached the landing, he pushed her down so that she was lying down. He moved his knee in between her legs, forcing them apart, eliciting another moan from Lorelai.

"Up," Lorelai managed to utter. "Rory."

"What?" Luke asked as he reached around her back and undid her bra.

"Door. Unlocked. Rory," Lorelai explained between quick breaths. "Up."

Luke got the message. Lorelai wrapped her arms and legs around him as he stood up, carrying her, and started up the rest of the stairs. She continued kissing him in his hair, on his neck, and breathing hotly into his ear, which almost made him drop her as his knees buckled.  
  
"Jesus, Lorelai," he whispered, finally reaching the top of the stairs. He carried her into the bedroom, kissing all the while. Luke put her down on the bed and was about to lie down on top of her when Lorelai interrupted him by sitting up and beginning to tug at his clothes. She pulled his shirt out of his pants and unbuttoned it while Luke reciprocated by lifting Lorelai's shirt up over her head and then removing her bra.

Together they removed Luke's shirt and his undershirt. Lorelai ran her hands over his chest, his rippled abs, and his muscled biceps, then pulled him back into a kiss. They kissed fervently as they savored the feeling of skin against skin, bare chest against bare chest.

Luke pushed Lorelai down and lay down on top of her. He caressed her breasts as he moved his kiss from her lips down to the nape of her neck, along her collarbone, and down between her breasts. Lorelai's nipples were fully erect as Luke's fingers teased them. He began kissing her breasts, gently biting and sucking on her nipples.

Lorelai's moans increased. She pulled Luke back up into a kiss, wrapped her legs around his waist and rolled them both over on the bed so that she was on top. She pressed herself into him. Luke groaned, put his hands on her hips and encouraged the motion once, twice, then repeatedly, rhythmically, until Lorelai started to feel it going too far too fast. She stopped herself, breathless, and moved herself down, kissing Luke's chest and stomach, then started to undo his belt. Lorelai moved down off of Luke as he helped her to remove the remainder of his clothing – his belt, his jeans, and finally his boxers, revealing his well-muscled body in all its glory.

Now completely revealed, Luke carefully watched Lorelai as she slowly removed her pants and undergarments. She straddled him and leaned over to kiss him.

"You're amazing," she whispered in his ear.

"You're beautiful," he replied.

Luke continued to kiss her and explore her as their two bodies moved together. His hands roamed her back, her hair, her breasts, until finally they moved downward towards the area where Lorelai felt was about to explode with heat at any moment. He continued to tease her, moving his fingers down, then away, down, then away until Lorelai couldn't stand it any longer.

"Oh God, Luke. Oh God, I want you," she moaned.

Luke obliged, and finally they were joined together as one, engulfed by their desire, surrendering to their passion, their bodies melded so that they thought they couldn't possibly get any closer. Lorelai gasped with each pulse, echoed by Luke's repeated moans, until finally they reached the culmination together, groaning, screaming, sweating, clutching. Together.

Afterwards they were never quite sure if it was minutes or hours that they laid there in silence, holding each other, savoring the feel of the other's touch that had been forbidden to them for so long.

* * *

Luke and Lorelai lay side-by-side on the bed, staring up at the ceiling.

"Wow," she said.

"Mm-hm" he said.

"That was like...and you were...and the whole thing...and then you did...wow," Lorelai stammered.

"Yeah," Luke said.

"Coffee," Lorelai said suddenly.

"What?"

"Need coffee."

"Now?" Luke asked. "What am I saying? Of course you mean now. When else do you ever need it?"

"In stupor...can't...think...sentences...talk..." said Lorelai as she stumbled out of bed, put on her robe and wandered down the stairs in a fog.

"You mean I've finally figured out how to shut you up?" called Luke after her.

A few minutes later she returned with a mug of coffee in her hands, which she set on the bedside table. "It's snowing!" she announced excitedly as she bounded over to the window, unlocked it and threw it wide open. "Must've just started," she said as she stuck her head out into the cold to catch snowflakes on her tongue.

"Can we please close that before the Third Ice Age starts right here in your bedroom?" said Luke who was still undressed, huddled under the bedsheets.

Lorelai shut the window, climbed back into bed and snuggled up to Luke. He put his arm around her and she nestled in next to him.

"OK, so I have a question for you," Lorelai began.

"Hm?"

"You've seen _Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer_, right?"

"Yes," Luke said, raising an eyebrow.

"OK, so you remember when they're on the Island of Misfit Toys?"

Luke nodded. "Is this even remotely relevant to anything we have seen, heard or experienced today?"

"I've had that stupid song in my head ever since Maury was playing it over at Babette's," Lorelai explained.

"So you've been thinking about Rudolph the whole time we were...well you know?"

"Well yes...but it certainly wasn't in the forefront of my mind during it all. I pushed it back. It was in the backfront...or the backback..."

"I think 'background' is the word you're looking for," Luke offered.

"OK anyway, so they were on the Island of Misfit Toys, and remember how every toy had something wrong with it?"

"Mm-hm."

"The train had square wheels, the jack-in-the-box was named Charlie, the cowboy rides an ostrich," Lorelai continued.

"Yes," Luke said, impatient.

"What was wrong with the doll?"

"Huh?"

"The girl doll. I've watched it like a thousand times and I can't figure out what's wrong with the doll."

"You've watched it a thousand times and I haven't seen it since I was maybe twelve and you think I'm going to know the answer?" Luke asked.

They lay in silence for a few moments, Lorelai running her hand gently through his chest hair, Luke caressing her arm.

"Luke?"

"Yes?"

"Are you happy?"

He reached over and planted a long, tender kiss on her lips. "Yes."

"Cuz the way you radiate pure joy and sunshine every day of the year, it sometimes gets hard to tell the difference," Lorelai said, a little nervously.

Luke looked her in the eye. "I'm happy," he said, drawing her into an embrace as he kissed her, first on the lips, and then gently moved across her cheek, the nape of her neck, and into her hair.

Lorelai lay next to him, thinking for a moment. "I know we've both thought about this for a long time," Lorelai realized what she'd said and blushed. "At least that's what everyone else seems to think, and I know I have..."

"Me too," Luke interjected.

"And I just hope that you aren't disappointed."

Luke looked at her quizzically.

"I don't want to be like yesterday's Christmas presents."

Luke sighed. "Lorelai, you've been coming into my diner practically every damn day for, what, a decade now?"

"So?"

"So I already know a thing or two about you. Trust me, I'm a realist."

Lorelai gasped playfully. "Are you saying I'm not perfect?"

"Coffee addiction, completely averse to eating anything remotely resembling a vegetable –"Luke began.

"Hey, you are what you eat."

"You babble, and you have a tendency to jump down my throat for inviting you to things," Luke challenged her.

"Hey I said I was sorry. You told me we were done with that," Lorelai accused.

"We are, I'm just citing it as an example of your non-perfectness."

"I think 'imperfection' is the word you're looking for," Lorelai offered.

They were silent for a few more minutes, continuing to caress each other.

"Luke?"

"Mm?"

"About Christmas Eve..."

"Mm?"

"I - I really don't feel right about leaving Rory."

"OK," Luke replied.

"So I think I'm going to pass on going to Liz's."

"OK," Luke repeated.

"You don't mind?"

"Other than the fact that I have to face Groucho, Harpo and Chico on my own, no."

"Does that make you Zeppo? Actually I'd put you as Groucho," Lorelai said.

"Please don't lump me in with them." Luke said.

"It's just that Rory and I have this whole ritual where we make cookies for Santa..."  
  
"_You_ make cookies? Do you even own a mixer?"

"We buy the dough at the store," Lorelai said.

"Do you even know how to turn on your oven?"

"Of course I do!"

Luke gave her a knowing look.

"I do! Rory and I used to make Shrinky-Dinks all the time. We would make obscene ones and then giggle as we watched them shrivel up in the oven, and then we'd decorate the bathroom with them."

"Remind me not to use your bathroom."

"Well they're not there any more, silly."

"Right, _I'm_ the silly one. So you bake cookies for Santa," Luke repeated, still not believing it.

"Yes...No," Lorelai finally confessed. "We eat the dough raw while watching _A Very Brady Christmas._"

"Ah, a Christmas tradition that's been passed down through the generations, I take it," Luke, shifting his position over onto his stomach.

"Oh hey, speaking of the generations, we never did talk about the dinner with Emily and Richard Stalin last night," Lorelai said as she began massaging his back from her position lying next to him.

"What's to talk about?"

"They gave you quite an interrogation. I thought they were going to ship you off to Guantanamo Bay."

"They were just being polite."

"Hounding you about your divorce is being polite?" Lorelai asked.

"They were just looking out for you," said Luke, unfazed. "That whole situation _was_ pretty weird, after all."  
  
"No argument there," interjected Lorelai.

Luke threw her a dirty look, then continued on. "I'd probably question it too if I were them."

"So you're OK with it?"  
  
"Well I'm not consenting to getting fingerprinted or being tailed by a private investigator, but I can understand where they're coming from," Luke replied as he shifted onto his back again and drew her into a kiss, a gentle brush of the lips as he stroked her cheeks and ran his fingers through her long, luxurious hair.

Lorelai moved in closer and returned the kiss, which quickly escalated and deepened, having lost none of the fervor from earlier.

tbc

* * *

A/N: What do you think? Should I have had her go to Liz's? I really don't think she would leave Rory, but on the other hand it would be a _very_ interesting scene to write – Luke, Lorelai, Liz, T.J. and Jess trapped in a room together. Maybe another time in another story...


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: I should mention that I have never actually seen _A Very Brady Christmas_. Most of Lorelai's and Rory's running commentary on the movie here is taken from a hilarious review that I found online at www(dot)x-entertainment(dot)com(slash)articles(slash)0703. It reads like it was written by Lorelai herself.

I find writing Romantic Luke to be rather tricky. He's not a guy who's comfortable being very open with his romantic feelings. It's hard to write him without having him turn suddenly into Sensitive New Age Guy, but still find a way for him to express himself. I'm not sure I've succeeded, hopefully I did.

On with the story...

* * *

Lorelai and Rory sat on the couch, feet up on the coffee table, both of them licking spoons and watching TV.

"What kind of dough did you say this was?" asked Rory.

"White Chocolate Macadamia Nut," replied Lorelai.

"I think it outdoes the Cappuccino Chip we had last year."

"Bite your tongue! Coffee in any form is clearly the superior choice," Lorelai replied, turning to watch the TV.

"OK, now that is just gross," she commented.

"What? They're kissing," said Rory.

"Yes but watching Peter Brady stick his tongue down the throat of his boss is just – ick." Lorelai shuddered. "And what's up with all the making out that Carol and Mike do in this?"

"So? They're married."  
  
"Yes, but you see, Mrs. Brady was like a mother to a generation, and nobody wants to watch their mother lick their father's ear or grab his ass at every given opportunity."

They were silent for a time, watching the movie, until they heard the doorbell ring. Lorelai jumped up eagerly and ran over to the door to answer it. Her face fell when she realized it was Kirk, dressed in his UPS uniform.

"Delivery for a Lorelai Gilmore," he announced.

"Kirk, you know who I am," Lorelai replied. "And it's Christmas Eve, why are you still working?"

"Gotta deliver these things by Christmas," Kirk said, clearly stressed. "I would've had it done by now except I got trapped in the Hoffmans' attic for six hours."

"You got trapped in their attic?" Rory asked.

"With the bats and the spiders. You probably don't want to touch me, I wasn't able to avoid all the falling bat poop."

"Kirk, how did you get trapped in their attic?" Lorelai asked.

"Well, I was delivering the big-screen TV that Mrs. Hoffman got for Mr. Hoffman for Christmas. Nobody was home, so I brought it up to their attic. They have an outdoor staircase that goes straight to the attic, so I carted the box up two flights of stairs. I almost dropped it twice. The second time I had to lunge to catch it and I wedged my finger in between the box and the banister. I think it may be broken."  
  
"Oh Kirk, you need to see a doctor!" said Rory.

"Anyway I finally got the box inside the attic, and I sat down for a few minutes to nurse my finger, and when I got up to leave, I discovered that the door was locked." Suddenly Kirk ducked from an invisible flying object. "I keep imagining I'm seeing bats flying at me," he explained.

"The door was locked from the outside?" Lorelai asked.

"Yes. It seems that Mr. and Mrs. Hoffman used to lock little Danny in the attic when he got caught shoplifting, so it only locks from the outside," Kirk explained.

"And the Hoffmans didn't warn you about this?" Rory asked.

"Well it may have been in the delivery instructions, but a lot of them got ruined when I dropped them in the snow this morning." Kirk ducked again. "Did you see that? Are you sure you don't have bats in here?"

"There are no bats in my house. So what's my delivery?" Lorelai asked.

"Sent from Sowles Antiques in Hartford," he replied. "Here's the invoice." He handed her a sheet of paper.

Lorelai looked at the paper. "Emily Gilmore," she informed Rory. "I guess this is my annual ostentatious-and-utterly-useless Christmas gift from my parents. I wonder why they didn't just give it to me tomorrow?"

"Won't fit in your car," Kirk informed her as he went out to fetch it. A few minutes later he came back, carting with him a large grandfather clock. "Where do you want it?" he asked.

"We have no room for this," Lorelai complained.

"How about the kitchen?" Rory suggested. "It's not like we go in there that much."

"No, just leave it here," Lorelai said, indicating the entryway. "Maybe I can get Mrs. Kim to exchange it for an antique jewelry box. Are you OK Kirk?" she asked as Kirk stumbled in a fog towards the door. "You really should have a doctor look at that finger."  
  
"Can't stop, need to get the deliveries done..." he murmured as he went out the door.

"Merry Christmas!" Lorelai and Rory called after him.

"Glad I'm not out driving tonight," Lorelai said as she closed the door.

"So who'd you think it was?" Rory said.

"What?" Lorelai asked.

"When the doorbell rang. You thought it was Luke, didn't you? You flew over there faster than Miss Patty when she sees a football team," Rory teased.

"Sshh," Lorelai waved her aside. "We're missing Bobby Brady agonizing over his career choice. I don't know what his problem is, if Carol and Mike give him a hard time about becoming a race car driver he can just bite their heads off with those humongous chompers of his."

"No, no, no," Rory continued. "No dodging the issue, we can watch the Bradys any time."

"What issue?" asked Lorelai.

"_Luke_. You two were so hot & heavy at Babette's the other night and yet you haven't filled me in on _anything_. I'm not used to being out of the loop, what on earth will I tell Miss Patty when she asks for the gossip?"

"Uh, I hear Reese Witherspoon went brunette," Lorelai supplied.

"Come on! What happened to our incredibly co-dependent mother/daughter relationship where we tell each other everything? You tell me you're dating Luke and the next thing I know he's showing up at Friday night dinners and you two can't keep your paws off each other at Babette's. I need details!"

Lorelai paused for a moment, then sat back with a smile. "I'm happy," she said simply.

"But..." Rory offered, anticipating Lorelai's next word.

"There's no but."

"What? There's always a but with you."

"There's no but. He's got a really cute butt, though."

"Too much information," Rory objected. "So are you in luuuv?" she teased.

"Oh, oh!" Lorelai said, indicating the TV. "We're missing Jan's make-up scene with her husband! Look! There goes Carol leading her daughter straight into a round of monkey sex right in her own house!"

"You're changing the subject again," Rory challenged her.

"Geez! I've never grilled you like this about your boyfriends," Lorelai accused.

"That's because I told you everything on my own. How come you're being so tight-lipped about this, anyway?"

Lorelai shrugged.

Rory's eyes widened. "Oh my God, I'm right, aren't I? You're in love, aren't you! You're not telling me, your Partner in Bitching, because you have nothing to complain about! That's it, isn't it!"

Lorelai sighed. "Oh I don't know, hon. Maybe...I don't know. I just know that it's been going really well. I guess I'm afraid of talking about it, like if I think about it too much I'll jinx it, or uncover some deep-rooted problem or something..." Lorelai trailed off.

"Mom, it's _Luke_."

"So?"

"You've known him forever. There's no hidden agenda. There's no deep-rooted issues. It's...just _Luke_."

"Yeah, I know," Lorelai agreed. "Hey, what about you? Didn't I see you at Babette's talking to a certain divorced ex-boyfriend?"

"Oh God, that was weird," Rory replied. "I didn't know he was coming."

"Are you two avoiding each other now?"

"I don't know. I hadn't really thought about it. It's easy to forget when I'm away at school."

"So what did he say?"

"Not much, we just talked about school, that sort of thing, and he said he's becoming an electrician. He's not going back to college."

"At least he's got a plan," said Lorelai.

"Yeah, I think he'll do great. I'm glad he's doing his own thing. It was like, for a while there he was letting Lindsey dictate everything he did. I dunno, maybe he did that with me too."

"And all is well with Mr. James?"

"Yeah, he went back to Minnesota for the holidays. Gave me some really great CDs for Christmas."

"You haven't been gushing about him daily like you used to do," Lorelai said.

"Guess we're old and boring," said Rory. Lorelai gave her a knowing look. "We're fine," Rory defended. "Everything is going fine. There's just not that much new to chat about. Oh look! Mr. Brady is getting the call," Rory said, pointing to the TV.

"Ah, yes, the building collapse," said Lorelai. "They didn't listen to Mr. Brady's advice and now the building is falling apart and they're calling him to bail them out. Of course most people would call 911 or the police, but I guess the former architect is a logical choice too."

They watched as Mr. Brady got trapped in the collapsed building, and was finally rescued.

"Oh no, Mr. Brady's hurt," Rory said.

"A little sawdust and a fake limp and that boy is clearly in rough shape," Lorelai said as Mr. Brady emerged from the building.

"Doesn't it just warm the cockles of your heart?" said Rory as the movie ended.

"A family Christmas for us all to aspire to," Lorelai said. "Hey, should I feel bad that I didn't give you a warm family life like that? Or are you OK with the fact that we're sitting here on our asses eating raw cookie dough, watching it on TV instead?"

"Mom, nobody has a family like that."

"Unless they're heavily medicated, that is," agreed Lorelai.

"On that note, I'm going to bed," announced Rory. She stood up and leaned over to kiss Lorelai good night.

"Night hon," said Lorelai.

* * *

Lorelai made her way up into her room and changed into her pajamas. She went over to the window, opened it and stuck her head outside, taking in a deep breath of the frigid winter air and admiring the Christmas lights that were displayed on all the houses on the block. She looked down the street towards Luke's, hoping against hope to see his truck on its way towards her house, but it was not there. She sighed, closed the window, and went over and climbed into bed. She turned out the light, allowing the glow of the Christmas lights that surrounded her window to gently illuminate her room as she fell asleep.

She was awakened abruptly by banging on the window. It was still dark. She quickly sat up in bed as she saw a shadowy figure outside the window, starting to open it from the outside. She let out a scream as she reached for the phone to call 911.

But then suddenly she made out the face, relaxed, and hung up the phone. She got out of bed and opened the window.

"You better not be playing Robert to my Elsa," she said.

"Can you just give me a hand?" Luke said. Lorelai opened the window as wide as it would go and helped him climb in.

"What the hell are you doing? I was just about to have every police officer in Stars Hollow after you!" Lorelai demanded.

"Stan's off duty tonight," Luke replied.

"Well what's a helpless single woman supposed to do when a crazy man breaks into her house in the middle of the night?"

"Helpless, right," Luke commented ironically. "As if _you_ weren't scary enough, those pajamas would scare off any intruders," he said, indicating Lorelai's pajamas which were decked out colorfully and very loudly with wreaths, Christmas trees, Rudolph and a variety of other Christmas scenes.

"Hey, no making fun, Rudolph might hear you!"

"Hey that was easier than last time," Luke said, indicating the window. "I didn't fall out of the tree or anything."

"Helps when you're not drunk. You're not drunk, are you?" she asked, eyeing him up and down and sniffing his breath.

"No, but I'm still not convinced that Liz didn't slip something into those brownies of hers."

"Ah, well at least that would explain why you're breaking into my house – through the second floor window, no less – at 1AM," said Lorelai, folding her arms over her chest and tapping her foot.

"Hey, should you check on Rory? That was a pretty good scream you let out."

Lorelai shook her head. "Rory sleeps like the dead. There was this one time when she was 11 and we had a fire, she slept right through the whole thing. The smoke alarms were going off, the whole fire department was here traipsing through the house, and she was just dead to the world."

"You had a fire? How did it start?" Luke asked.

"Oh, I decided to try using the fireplace..." Lorelai trailed off.

"You forgot to open the flue, didn't you?"

"No...Yes," she admitted. "So are you going to explain why you're breaking into my house at this hour?"

"The door was locked," Luke replied.

"You know, there's this really cool invention called a 'doorbell.'"

"I didn't want to wake anyone up."

"Ah, good plan," Lorelai said. "So you're coming to my house at 1AM, you don't want to wake us up, so I can only assume you came here to see Marcus, my stuffed lizard?"

Luke was silent for a few moments. He finally sighed. "It was a long night."

"OK..." Lorelai said, still confused.

"Between listening to T.J. speculate on why and how anyone would give a partridge in a pear tree as a Christmas gift, Liz talking about the Solstice and the current alignment of the planets, and Jess sulking in a corner with his book, only looking up occasionally to mock each of us in turn..." Luke trailed off. He paused, then shrugged. "Ah hell, I missed you," he said finally. "I thought – I dunno, I guess I was thinking maybe I'd crash on the chair or something..."

Lorelai went over to him, softly caressed his face and kissed him gently. "I missed you too," she said. They proceeded to kiss for several minutes.

"Stay with me?" Lorelai asked when they finally came up for air.

Luke nodded in agreement. He took his coat off, but before setting it down he reached into the pocket and pulled out a small, wrapped gift which he pushed into Lorelai's hands. "Here, this is for you," he said.

"Now?" she asked.

"Well Rory will be up in the morning and you're going to your parents' house..."

"OK!" Lorelai said eagerly as she tore off the wrapping to reveal a jewelry box. She opened it to find a pair of vintage-style pearl earrings. "Oh my God, they're beautiful! Thank you!" she said as she embraced Luke and kissed him fervently.

Suddenly she pulled away. "Wait a minute," she said.

"What?"

"This isn't what I told Rory to tell you to get for me."

"You don't like them?" Luke asked.

"I love them, but since it's not what I asked for, you must have come up with the idea somehow on your own, and unfortunately I can only think of two ways. Either you have another woman on the side who's doing your shopping for you, or these aren't really pearls, they're some sort of stone from the Luxan home world that the aliens left behind when they dropped you off."

"Or maybe I came across them when I was cleaning out my closet and I thought you'd like them," Luke offered.

"You found them in _your_ closet? Where were they, sandwiched between the tutu and the fishnet stockings?"

"They were in a box. It was...it was just some stuff from the old house," Luke said awkwardly.

Suddenly Lorelai understood. "Luke, were these your mother's?" she asked as she went over to him and gently caressed his hair.

"Yeah," Luke replied. "I just...they made me think of you."

"But shouldn't they go to Liz?"

"I talked to her about it tonight. She's fine with it. I gave her a bunch of other stuff that I found."

"But shouldn't you – "Lorelai began.

Luke cut her off. "Are you going to keep arguing with me on this? Because if you are, I _will_ take them back and give them to Liz."

"Don't you dare," said Lorelai, pulling the box out of his reach. She kissed him gently on his cheek, up his face, and finally on the lips. "Thank you. I love them," she said. "OK, my turn." She bounded down the stairs and returned with an envelope which she presented to him.

Luke opened it to reveal several brochures and receipts. "I'm taking you on a romantic getaway," Lorelai explained. "We're going to The Balsams in New Hampshire, where we can ski to our heart's desire."

"You don't ski."

"OK, you're going skiing. They have snowshoeing and Nordic skiing and everything. I'm going hot tubbing and restaurant tasting and massage-getting."

Luke rifled through the brochures for a few minutes, then finally encircled Lorelai with his arms. "It looks great. Thanks," he said as he pressed his lips against hers.

"OK, now I really do need to get some sleep or things could get ugly tomorrow. I'll be like _Night of the Living Dead._"

"What else is new?" Luke said.

Lorelai climbed back into bed as Luke stripped down to his boxers and joined her. They snuggled in together and held each other as they both started to drift off to sleep.

"Thanks for the tickets," Luke whispered in the dark.

"Thanks for the earrings. I love them," Lorelai replied as she drifted off to sleep. A moment before drifting off completely, she murmured, "I love you."

Luke was suddenly wide awake. "I love you too," he said, hugging her sleeping body close to him.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: I think we're drawing to a close with this. Thanks for reading and for all the wonderful feedback I've gotten!

I am not happy with this chapter but it's taking me too darn long to write it and I want it finished. (grumble grumble.) I'm willing to tweak it, so suggestions are welcome.

Disclaimer: I'm still at my stupid job so obviously I still don't own them.

* * *

Lorelai opened her eyes slowly and looked around the room. She caught a glimpse of the clock which read 8:43.

"Morning," she murmured to herself. "No alarm? Oh yeah, Christmas," she said as she remembered what day it was. She was almost fully awake now. "Luke?" she said, looking over to where he had been sleeping.

Luke was gone.

Lorelai wandered into the kitchen and prepared a pot of coffee. She went into the living room, grabbed a candy cane off the tree, then entered Rory's room. Rory was still sleeping. Lorelai climbed into bed beside her. "Are you dreaming of sugar plums?" she asked with a smile.

Rory started to stir. Lorelai presented her with the candy cane. "Merry Christmas," she said.

Rory grunted, still not fully awake.

"Hey, did you hear anything last night?" Lorelai asked.

Rory sat up in bed. "No, I did not hear sleigh bells or reindeer hooves on the roof," she replied. "You've asked me this every year since I was 3, and every year my answer is the same. You know what Einstein's definition of insanity was?"

"Combining florals and stripes?"

"It's doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

"Actually this time I have a real reason for asking," Lorelai informed her. "Luke came over last night."

"Luke came over? When?"

"Late. He came through the window – long story. But I'm having a real Nancy Drew moment here because he's gone now and so I'm wondering if I imagined the whole thing."

"Very intriguing. What's the last thing you remember?" Rory asked as she got out of bed and put on her robe.

"Well we exchanged gifts – "

"So how'd you like your aromatherapy foot massager?"

"Oh, he totally ignored our deal and picked out my gift on his own. Whole other story. Anyway I asked him to stay the night, he stripped down to his boxers and I was admiring his chest – "

"Too much information!" Rory complained.

Lorelai giggled and continued on. "And we got into bed and then we fell asleep. And when I woke up this morning he was gone," Lorelai said pensively.

"Well maybe he went home to go shower or something."

Suddenly Lorelai gasped. "Oh my God," she said as she got up from the bed. She started pacing the room, then wandered into the kitchen, all the while murmuring "Oh my God, oh my God," over and over to herself.

"Mom! What?" Rory asked, following after her.

Lorelai got out a box of Pop-Tarts and put a pair into the toaster, still murmuring to herself. She turned to Rory. "Oh my God!" she said, grabbing her by the shoulders.

"Mom! Get a grip! What's going on?"

"Oh my God. I think I told Luke that I love him. Oh my God!"

"OK, you have officially surpassed the Pope's daily quota of 'my Gods.' Tell me what happened."

"Well we got into bed and I was half-asleep. Really more like 9/10 asleep, and we were thanking each other for our gifts. Oh my God, Rory, he gave me the most gorgeous earrings that used to be his mother's."

"Wow," Rory said.

"And so I told him that I love the earrings, and it just slipped out...'I love you.' Oh my God!"

"And what did he say?"

"Nothing. I don't know, I was asleep by then," Lorelai replied. "For all I know he was asleep too and didn't even hear me."  
  
"Or he could've said he loves you too," suggested Rory.

"Oh come on," Lorelai replied cynically. "We've only been together a few weeks!"

"Ten years and a few weeks," Rory corrected her.

"No, no, no! It's too soon!" insisted Lorelai. "And now I'm going to scare him off and probably screw up this whole thing, and it was going so well..." Lorelai trailed off, her voice sounding panicked.

"Did you mean it?" asked Rory.

"What?" asked Lorelai.

"Do you love him?"

Just then the doorbell rang. Rory looked outside. "Well I guess you didn't scare him off because he's here," she said.

"Oh my God!" said Lorelai, dashing towards the stairs. "I have to get dressed!"

"Hasn't he seen you naked already?" asked Rory.

"Too weird! Have to get dressed!" replied Lorelai as she ran up the stairs.

Rory opened the door and let Luke in. Luke was carrying several paper bags. He walked into the entryway, not watching where he was going, and almost fell over the grandfather clock.

"Shit, where did that thing come from?" he asked.

"Oh, that's Mom's Christmas present from my grandparents," explained Rory.

"Right," said Luke. "Because what this house really needed was a huge monolith standing in the entryway for people to trip on."

"What's in the bags?" asked Rory as she followed Luke into the kitchen.

Luke spied the Pop-Tarts box on the kitchen counter. "I brought you two breakfast. I thought you might like something other than Pop-Tarts on Christmas morning." He set the bags down on the table and started unpacking them. "We've got pancakes, waffles, omelet, sausage..."

Rory suddenly gasped. "What is _that_?" she accused, pointing to a container of fruit salad.

"Don't worry, it's for me," Luke said.

Lorelai returned from upstairs, dressed in a loud Christmas T-shirt and jeans.

"Hey," Luke said to her, walking over to give her a kiss.

"Hey," Lorelai replied, avoiding his gaze, clearly uncomfortable. She gave him a quick peck on the lips then squirmed away from him. "Aww, you brought us breakfast!" she said in an overly cheerful voice.

Luke looked at her, surprised and dismayed at her reaction. "Yeah, well I thought you might want some real food to eat on Christmas. Anyway, I'll get out of your hair, I know you probably have crazy mother-daughter Christmas things to do."

"Oh, we'll just be watching the 24-hour marathon of _A Christmas Story_," Rory informed him. "Stay and eat with us at least!"

Lorelai squirmed uncomfortably. "Uh, yeah, you should stay," she said. "Why don't we bring this all into the living room so we can watch the movie?"

Rory grabbed the bags and started carting them into the living room. Luke came over to Lorelai who was searching for plates in the cabinets. "Is everything OK?" he asked her as he came up behind her and encircled her with his arms.

"Oh, yeah, fine," Lorelai said as she pulled away from his embrace in her quest for dishes. She grabbed a stack of plates and handed them to him. "Here, you take these in, I'll be in in a moment."

Luke brought the plates into the living room. Lorelai began nervously puttering around the kitchen, looking for things to keep herself busy. She poured the remaining coffee into a cup and started another pot. She began washing the dishes in the sink when Rory came in.

"Mom," she said in an accusatory voice.

"What?" Lorelai asked.

"Put down the sponge and step away from the sink," she said. "What are you doing?"

"Just a little cleaning up," Lorelai explained.

"Mom, you need to talk to him. Well, that is unless you were planning on re-papering all the shelves, and I think the floor could stand to be re-grouted too, that should keep you busy for a while."

"Hey, I like grouting tile," Lorelai defended herself.

Rory came over, took Lorelai by the hand and started to drag her into the living room. "Come on, it'll be fine," she said. She gave Lorelai a push in the direction of the living room, and then disappeared into her room, giving them privacy.

Lorelai slowly entered the living room where Luke sat, watching TV. She sat down on the couch, making sure some space remained between them.

"I made some blueberry pancakes for you," he said, indicating the food spread out on the coffee table.

"Oh...thanks," Lorelai said as she helped herself to some food.

Luke moved over towards her and put his arm around her. "Nice clock," he said, indicating the grandfather clock. "You putting an addition on the house for it?"

"Oh yeah," Lorelai replied. "I could've told my parents a thousand other things they could've given me, things that I'd actually _use_ but no, they have to give me some overpriced antique that doesn't even keep good time. I can't even bring it to the Inn; the chimes would scare all our guests away."

They sat in silence for a few minutes as Lorelai ate, then she put her plate down, pushed his arm off of her shoulders and stood up. "I need some coffee," she explained. "You want anything to drink?"

Luke shook his head. "No thanks," he said. Lorelai went into the kitchen as Luke stared after her, a confused look on his face.

Lorelai returned a few minutes later carrying a mug of coffee. As she entered the room, Luke stood up.

"I think I'm going to get going. I know you're going to your parents' and you probably want some Gilmore mother-daughter time to open your presents," he said, indicating the mounds of wrapped gifts piled under the tree.

"Oh, uh, OK," Lorelai said as she put down her coffee and walked him over to the door. She walked with Luke out onto the porch, where they both paused for a moment.

"Hey, Luke," Lorelai began. "I, uh, I know that things are kind of weird, and...well...I just wasn't sure if I said something to you last night or if I just dreamt it..." Lorelai refused to meet his gaze.

"You didn't– "Luke started to say but Lorelai cut him off.

"Because if I did, well I was half asleep...I didn't really...I mean...I..." Lorelai stammered.

"Yeah, OK," Luke said, turning to leave. "I'll talk to you later," he said as he walked down the stairs and towards his truck.

Lorelai watched him as he drove away. Luke did not look back.

* * *

Lorelai and Rory pulled up into Emily and Richard's driveway, got out of the Jeep and walked towards the door.

"I am really not in the mood for my parents right now," Lorelai grumbled.

"Oh come on, we'll just stay a few hours, eat ourselves silly, and then we can go home and watch some of your new _Green Acres_ DVDs," Rory said.

"Yeah, I really think we outdid ourselves this year with our presents. You're gonna be the envy of all the other kids at the Yale newspaper with your Christiane Amanpour mouse pad," Lorelai said.

"And I'll never be late for any meetings with my Hello Kitty watch," Rory added.

They rang the bell and the maid opened the door and ushered them in. She took their coats and Lorelai and Rory went into the sitting room, where there were a number of people milling around and talking.

"Lorelai, Rory," Emily said as she saw them and came over to greet them.

"Merry Christmas, Grandma," Rory said, kissing her hello.

Emily turned to Lorelai. "Merry Christmas, Lorelai. Did you get the gift we sent?"

"Yes, Mom, it's very nice. Very big," Lorelai replied.

"It's a grandfather clock, it's supposed to be big," Emily replied. "By the way your cousin Tasha is here, she was looking for you a little while ago."

"Ugh, I am so not in the mood for Tasha today," Lorelai complained. "Little Miss Perfect Husband, Perfect Family, loves to rub my nose in it...God, I can't wait until she gets divorced."

"Where'd you hear she's getting divorced?" Rory asked.

"Come on, they're rich, late 30s, that midlife crisis is just on the horizon, the divorce is inevitable," Lorelai replied.

Just then Richard came over to greet them. "Lorelai, you look very nice," Richard commented upon seeing her.

"I shaved my legs too," she pointed out.

"Yes you do look nice," Emily agreed. "Those are beautiful earrings, I don't think I've seen you wear them before," Emily said.

"Oh, they're new," she replied.

"They don't look new," Emily said, coming closer to examine them. "In fact they look like precious antiques."

"Well, I robbed a pawnshop," Lorelai explained. She saw Emily glaring at her, so she explained, "Uh, they're actually from Luke. Christmas present."

"They were his mother's," Rory interjected. Lorelai threw her a look indicating she had said too much.

"I see," Emily said coldly.

Lorelai sighed. "What, Mom?"

"Nothing, Lorelai. Excuse me, I need to go check on the brunch buffet." Emily turned and walked towards the kitchen. Lorelai gave Rory a questioning look, then went after Emily into the kitchen.

"At the risk of making what's already been a memorably bad Christmas worse, what's going on, Mom?: Lorelai asked.

Emily sighed. "Lorelai, I just think it's in rather bad taste for you to be accepting gifts like that."

"Gifts like what?" Lorelai asked.

"That is an extremely personal gift that he gave you, especially considering you've only been dating him a short time."

"Mom, it's _Luke_. I've known him forever. I don't understand what the problem is here," Lorelai said, getting angry.

"Open your eyes, Lorelai. It's plainly obvious that this man is in love with you –"

"What?" Lorelai said, speechless.

"And the problem is," Emily continued, "that in another few weeks, or maybe months even, you'll get tired of him and cast him aside just like you've done to every other man in your life, and it's just not right for you to be leading him on and letting him give you his mother's earrings."

Lorelai stood aghast at Emily's words.

"Now if you'll excuse me I need to find the maid and get these things moved out to the dining room," Emily said as she turned and walked away.

* * *

Lorelai and Rory walked out of the house and headed towards the Jeep to go home.

"Another memorable Christmas with my parents," Lorelai grumbled. "You realize that that pen they gave you is worth like a thousand dollars, don't you?"

"You looked like you were having fun with cousin Tasha," Rory said.

"Fun? Maybe a little. She was getting in all those 'single mother' jabs she loves to spring on me. I don't know, I guess I'd just listened to one too many, so I _may_ have kind of suggested that I saw her husband in the guest bedroom, alone with the maid," Lorelai giggled.

"You didn't," Rory accused.  
  
"She had it coming."  
  
"Well at least the food was good. Hey, who was that guy you were talking to?" Rory asked.

"Oh my God! The coolest thing ever," Lorelai explained. "I saw him standing by himself and I'd never seen him at any family gatherings so I had to find out who he was. Turns out he's second cousin Diane's youngest son. And get this – he just got out of _prison_!"

"Prison? A Gilmore in prison?" Rory asked.

"I couldn't believe it either. It took some prodding to get it out of him, too." Lorelai sighed. "I think that's the best thing that's happened all day. A controversial member of the Gilmore family! Can you believe it?

"It is rather mind-boggling," Rory agreed.

"And we've been well-fed today, so I guess it hasn't been a total loss," said Lorelai.

"The food has been good and plentiful," said Rory.

They drove home the rest of the way and pulled up to the house just as snow started falling. Lorelai hurried inside and checked the answering machine but there were no messages on it. She sighed, picked up the phone and dialed.

"Hello?" came Luke's voice on the other end.

"Up for a walk?" she asked abruptly.

"Um, well I was just...well OK," Luke replied.

"I'll be right over," Lorelai said, then hung up the phone. "Rory, I have to go out, I'll see you later," she said as she grabbed her hat and coat and rushed out the door.

Luke was downstairs in the diner by the time she got there. He saw her and came outside.

"Hey," he said to her, avoiding her gaze.

Lorelai also noticed that he did not kiss her.

They began walking through the town square which was well illuminated with Christmas lights. The snow was falling at a steady rate now, not too heavily, but enough to blanket the town in a fresh layer of white. Being Christmas, all the stores were closed, so everything was quiet, made even quieter by the falling snow.

They walked in silence, not touching, not looking at each other, for several minutes. Finally Luke broke the silence. "How'd it go at your parents'?" he asked.

"Oh, the usual. They berate me, they buy completely inappropriate gifts for Rory and feed us totally fabulous food. They send their regards by the way."

Luke nodded in acknowledgement.

"Maybe you can come along next year," Lorelai suggested gently.

"Yeah, we'll see," Luke said.

They walked in silence for several more minutes.

"God I love the snow," Lorelai said suddenly, looking up and sticking her tongue out to catch snowflakes. "It's totally magical. It transforms places. Places like Stars Hollow, or Hartford, or my parents' back yard, that sometimes seem like humans have totally taken control of, it's like Mother Nature is giving us a gentle reminder that she's really in charge. Even my front yard, where you can see the street a few yards away, it totally seems like this unspoiled wild wonderland." Lorelai took a deep breath of the frigid winter air while Luke watched her with a blank expression.

They circled around the square and walked back in front of the diner. "Well I've got to get up early tomorrow, there's always a crowd here the day after a holiday, so I'll talk to you tomorrow," Luke said as he started heading inside.

"Luke?" Lorelai stopped him.

"Mm?" Luke turned around.

"OK, I – I need to say something. I wasn't going to say it but if this is the way things are going to be, well I just can't take the weirdness. This is almost as weird as a sci-fi convention, or my mother apologizing for anything she's ever done, or...or anything whatsoever concerning Christopher Walken – "

"Lorelai," Luke cut her off.

Lorelai sighed. "Look, I know what I said last night, and obviously you heard me, hence the weirdness. I wasn't planning on saying it, I was half asleep, otherwise I never would've – "

"Lorelai you already told me all this," Luke said, annoyed. "I've gotta go." He turned and started opening the door to the diner.

"I love you," Lorelai said to his back.

"What?" Luke said, turning around, surprised.

"I – I know it's too soon and I'm probably going to scare you off, but it's already out there thanks to my damn sleepy babbling and things can't get any weirder than they already are so I thought you should know that I _did_ mean it, so we can at least clear the air. I know it's fast and I'm not expecting you to say it too so don't worry about that, I – I just wanted you to know so maybe we can let it lie for a while until you're ready, if you're ever ready, that is...I just hate this weirdness and I wanted you to know."

As Lorelai spoke, Luke's expression gradually went from anger to confusion until a smile gradually spread across his face, and finally he started chuckling.

"What?" Lorelai asked, taken aback by his reaction.

Luke was laughing audibly by now. "I think I prefer the sleepy babbling to the awake babbling," he said finally. "But next time at least try to stay awake for the entire conversation."

"What? Stop it!" Lorelai said as Luke continued laughing.

"Lorelai, _nothing_ about this relationship has been fast," Luke finally said. "Though it's definitely been weird."

"Did I say something else last night that I forgot about?" Lorelai asked.

"No. _I _said something that you forgot about."

"What?"

"I'm not sure I want to tell you," Luke said, thoroughly enjoying tormenting her.

However Lorelai was getting upset. "Fine, Luke, I'm going home then. Give me a call when you're ready to stop the Dick Cheney routine." Tears were in her eyes as she turned and started walking away.

"Lorelai," Luke said quietly. She stopped walking as he went over to her. He put his hands on her shoulders, turned her around and took her in his arms.

"I said 'I love you too,'" he whispered into her ear.

The snow continued to fall all around them, illuminated by the colorful Christmas lights hung around the town square as Luke and Lorelai held each other and sealed their declarations of love with a kiss.

THE END


End file.
